The Right Stuff: What to Tote in Your Bag

If your everyday bag weighs a ton (like a certain Beautygeek's does), it's likely time to purge and organize. These tips from an organizing expert will help keep you sorted, and lighter on your feet. And oh, you could win a luxury bag + AlwaysÂ® and TampaxÂ® Radiant stuff.

If your everyday bag weighs a ton (like a certain Beautygeek's does), it's likely time to purge and organize. These tips from an organizing expert will help keep you sorted, and lighter on your feet. And oh, you could win a luxury bag + AlwaysÂ® and TampaxÂ® Radiant stuff.

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The bigger the bag, the more stuff you'll jam into it.-- universal law of tote bags

When you're zooming from work to the gym to drinks with the girls or dinner with the boy, a well-stocked tote bag is your best traveling companion. But what's essential and what's just a space-hog?

We asked Sidney Sproule of Clean Slate Organizing to help identify must-haves that don't require pulling a wheelie suitcase behind you daily.

Every Day Yes, you get to keep your mini makeup kit: tinted lip balm, concealer, powder and eye shadow. You also want a small fine-toothed comb (lighter than a brush), mini dry shampoo, emery board, bandages or blister pads, and Tampax® Radiant individually wrapped re-sealable feminine protection so you have them on hand for yourself or a friend in need.

Any Night Can be Date Night Add lightweight chandelier earrings to your makeup bag along with a bright lipstick and some bobby pins or hair elastics so you can twist your hair into a low bun. (The super-prepared also keep a sequined top at the office for instant evening sparkle.)

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Non-Essential Essentials For some, a Tide to Go Stain Remover pen should be an every-day totable. But if you're fairly graceful, consider it optional (unless you hang around with clumsy people). Be prepared for air-conditioning excess, though -- a big drapey scarf or light sweater will come in handy more often than you expect. A small collapsible umbrella's a good idea, too -- I've been caught in the rain enough times to warrant carrying one even on sunny days. A protein bar or almonds in a resealable baggie is a must to prevent accidental consumption of chips/cookies/cake/pie. And a novel or magazine is just the thing to avoid pointless fuming if you're stuck in a cab or doctor's office -- or waiting for that sweet-but-hopelessly-tardy friend. (She knows who she is.)

Lighten Up Keep a change purse separate from your paper money and dump the contents every night so change won't weigh you down. Go through your bag once a week and remove items you've amassed: receipts, business cards and trash.

Not that this has ever happened to us, but to prevent water bottle leaks (and drowned phones) Sproule suggests you "avoid bottles with sports tops; have a lid that screws on and off. That way you're more conscious that your water bottle is properly closed."

There. Now rather than rummage endlessly through a black hole of stuff, you can reach into your spiffy tote to withdraw what you need in an instant. And you can spend all your free time on more Radiant pursuits, like drinks with the girls or dinner with the boy.

This is a sponsored post. Also, it's Made-in-Canada month on Beautygeeks. Liza Herz and Sidney Sproule were made in Canada.

*Contest ends July 17, 2012. Approximate retail value of prize is $300 CAD. Offer open to Canadian residents of the legal age of majority. Winners will be notified by email during the week of July 18, 2012. ChickAdvisor is the contest sponsor and has sole authority to award prizes or disqualify users for any reason. Click through for full contest rules.